FreeCast CEO Responds to Suggestions of Facebook, YouTube Alliance

Just as the TV networks use Facebook and YouTube to entice viewers to sample their full TV offerings, we’re doing the same thing with Rabbit TV Lite.

Rabbit TV’s strategic objective is to mimic cable TV on the web.

FreeCast’s recent launch of a new streaming TV app on Facebook, Rabbit TV Lite, has touched off more talk of war between Facebook and YouTube in outlets like The Motley Fool and Seeking Alpha. But FreeCast CEO William Mobley was quick to quash the idea that his company is taking sides in the battle, insisting that his company is focused on serving its current subscribers and attracting new ones, many of whom are mutual demographic customers of the social networking and video giants.

“Facebook and YouTube are two places where consumers are obviously going to get video. Just as the TV networks use Facebook and YouTube to entice viewers to sample their full TV offerings, we’re doing the same thing. Rabbit TV Lite, with over 400 curated channels from various sources like YouTube, Vevo, Ustream, and the networks themselves, is simply a sample of the premium Rabbit TV Plus service,” Mobley explained.

The company’s core offering, Rabbit TV Plus is a guide to thousands of online video sources not available via the Facebook app. The $10-per-year premium subscription connects users with the content they want to watch, including over 350,000 TV episodes and 100,000 movies available on-demand, plus over 4000 streaming channels, over 50,000 radio stations, over 25,000 games, a full calendar of live events, and more, available from TV networks’ own web properties, including subscription services like CBS All Access and HBO Now, online storefronts like Amazon and iTunes, and more, allowing subscribers to get their content from one place.

Unlike Aereo, which captured broadcasts for retransmission within a closed system, Rabbit TV Plus directs users to places where they can find the content that they want to watch directly from each provider’s source, and makes that service available on all devices.

FreeCast welcomes the opportunity to work with the networks and other content providers, and license content from them to resell to its subscribers on an à la carte basis. In particular, the company which already provides live local channels by offering free HDTV antennas to its “Plus” customers, is eager to begin offering local networks when they become available over-the-top. FreeCast’s intent is to emulate cable TV for the web, by bringing freely available ad-supported content, subscription-based offerings, and pay-per-view content together for consumers to access them.